Looking for today's Connections answer for puzzle #426 from August 10, a little easier than yesterday's answer, the Connections companion rated this puzzle 3.4 out of 5 for difficulty.

We update our Connections hints and tips daily. And if the hints aren't enough, see the four answers below, along with the category title and related words. In addition, for those of you reading this in a different time zone, I have included a reflection on yesterday's puzzle 425.

There are spoilers for connection #426. Only read this if you want to know the answer to today's connection.

Alternatively, see our NYT Connections How to Play Guide for tips on how to solve the puzzle without our help.

While today's wordle solution guide recommends the best wordle starting words as a strategy, the Connections solution depends on identifying the categories that are connected from the 16 words. The difficulty of each category is represented by a color, with yellow being the easiest grouping and purple the most difficult. Hints are helpful as the answer is displayed after four wrong guesses.

If you need a hint to solve the groupings, here are each theme in order of difficulty:

If you read these hints, you should at least find the answer to today's connection. If not, please continue reading for larger hints. Also, if you only want to know the answer, scroll down further.

There is a bigger clue. Today's puzzle is about a 9 to 5 job.

Now, what is the answer to today's game #426 Connection?

Drum roll please.

I solved today's puzzle with a little more enthusiasm than usual, because with Edge, Office, Times, and Windows, I got the blue category almost instantly.

Already distracted by the tools at work, I easily got the green category next. I have spent more time than I care to admit on the functions, operations, execution, and workings of Microsoft products.

In the yellow category, I spent a long time staring at the devil and Mars and asking myself, "What's the point?" Surely only the red ones...? Wouldn't it be...?" That was my thinking. But sometimes it really is as simple as that.

Today I memorized "Blonde," "Jobs," "Milk," "Vice," and purple.

Reading this late in the day? According to Connections Companion, the difficulty level was 3.9 out of 5.

There were a lot of red herrings in yesterday's puzzle; Cheerleader brought to mind high school clichés, but as soon as I saw Advocate and Champion, I started thinking I might be stuck in that mindset; Exponent ( Exponent), the green category ended with the acquisition of Exponent.

Blue came right after that with Glam, Goth, Metal, and Punk. I went to Lollapalooza for the first time last week, so I already had the music genres in mind (I still can't get Chapel Lawn's "Hot to Go" out of my head).

[34] The yellow category (absent, elsewhere, gone, MIA) was one of the most difficult ones for me so far. This is because the puzzle initially reminded me of Ti West's phenomenal "X" trilogy, with Mia, Goth, and Horror all coming together. It turns out that the name is not Mia, but MIA, meaning missing. I flunked before I could guess the purple (Horror, Jock, Value, Wave).